Molly Jennens

Derby County Ladies manager John Bennett has labelled Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest as “the biggest game in the club’s history.”

His team take on their local rivals, with the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup in sight, and he is relishing the prospect of the challenge.

“It’s a bit of a different one because with it being the FA Cup that brings its own challenges as anything can happen, but on top of that is the added spice of it being a local derby,” he said.

“It’s a big game for the club. In my opinion, it’s the biggest game in the club’s history so there’s been a big build up to it and rightly so.”

However, the manager has called for his players to remain professional and urged them not to let the size of the game faze them.

And, wth his team being out of action for the last few weeks as the rain and frost have disrupted the footballing calendar, Derby Ladies have been putting in the hard yards at training.

Bennett added: “The training has been very sharp so they couldn’t have done anymore really. The weather is out of our control, so the lack of games will be a factor, but hopefully we can put that right and dust the cobwebs off ready for Sunday.”

Bennet has also urged the club’s fans to come out in big numbers to make the occassion even better.

“What’s good about women’s football is that it’s on the up now and more and more people are joining in on that,” he said.

“It’s a good competitive game to come and see if they’re not doing anything so we’d like to get as many fans down as we can.”